Ambode swears in 16th Lagos Chief judge, to establish commercial courthouses

New Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Opeyemi Oke in hat

THE LAGOS STATE GOVERNOR, Akinwunmi Ambode, earlier today, swear-in the 16th Chief Judge for the state, Justice Olufunmilayo Oke, even as he disclosed that plans have been concluded to establish a designated Commercial Courthouse, aimed at speeding up justice delivery.

Ambode stressed that the new courthouse would assist in accommodating all commercial related organs of the judiciary, drive commerce and improve the ease of doing business in Lagos state.

The governor, who swear in Oke at the State House, Alausa Secretariat,
Ikeja, assured residents that his administration would continuously
cooperate with the judiciary in developing and implementing
appropriate strategies to ensure speed justice delivery.

He said: “I want to assure you of our commitment to do whatever is
required of us to ensure that the on-going reform in the Judicial
sector achieves the desired effect.”

The governor lamented that despite reforms and achievement recorded in
justice delivery, speedy justice delivery had remained work in
progress over the years in the state.

“We have made significant progress in this regard with the various
reforms that have been initiated and implemented however I believe
strongly that we can do more by stepping up our efforts so that the
wheel of justice can roll faster without necessarily compromising the
fundamental principle of fair hearing and rule of law.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (middle)
and New Chief Judge of Lagos, Justice Opeyemi 

“I do understand that our judges are currently facing enormous work load due to the fact that the Lagos judiciary is the busiest in the country and this will naturally affect the turnover of cases in our courts. It is for this reason that I once again recommit our administration’s determination to seek a significant increase in the
number of judges that we have on the Lagos bench.



“There is no gainsaying that Lagos is the commercial nerve centre of the country and it deserves a modern state-of-the-art first class Commercial Courthouse to speedily address commercial disputes in the State,” he added.